Somehow, we have not tried to tackle this tarbaby - yet, and maybe we should just leave it alone?

Viewpoints vary from strong beliefs that this is the first warming ever and that it is man-made, catastrophic, getting worse, and that the planet and humanity is doomed to destruction, to observations that the climate has undergone wide temperature swings over the history of the planet, even in the past several millennia, that mankind has actually benefited from warnings and regressed during the coolings, and that these swings are largely due to celestial motion and sun radiation changes.

Pretty well everyone agrees that we are fouling our nest and need to reduce pollution and that fuels are a major source.

Last year I spent quite some time reviewing graphs and data on temperature trends, and causes. The climate *is* changing...just as it has done of millions of years. Natural forces play a large part in that. Has man caused any effects? Possibly, but I would place it somewhere between marginal and a fart in a windstorm.

I do not believe that there is anything we can do that will have any appreciable effect on direction or rate, efforts to change it are futile. But it gives the hystericals something to rave about and serves to distract many people from other issues.

The hystericals will have their day. And we will all pay the price. Let's hunker down and do what we must; survive, keep the honeys as healthy as we can, help each other, and don't panic! The main thing is to not panic. Ommm!
The great cycles of life will determine what we have to do. Let's face it, there's no more caring community than than the apiarists. We take care of bugs! That, admittedly, take care of us with pollination services.
We will ride this wave, until we can't. Just keep doing, and try to to do no harm. Apologies to Hippocrates.

So, the Environment Canada website has a good look at sea surface temp and ice cover. Looks like La Niña is breaking down this month.
Here in west-central Alberta we have had a really warm week for mid-January. +10 C yesterday.
Bees around the upper entrances, and some suicides flying and hitting the snow
Not warm enough for long enough to remove the solar wrap; tar paper!
If we get a warm spell in February, I'm going in! Getting 'seasonal' temps again here in the next couple days. Bees are still on their own. At least there's 'buzz' from both hives!

Glad to hear it. I'm missing the good weather at home, but Galveston was okay that way.

Tonight I'm on the wet coast, on Cassiopeia, but should be back in Alberta in time for some cold weather.

As for my bees, I have no idea. I hope they are well. I notice that some had pushed out the plugs and are getting more ventilation than I think ideal for the tail end of winter. I'll have to plug them again even I'm home. Wrapping and reducers are most important once the beers start building up.

Let's tackle the "tarbaby"
First, who here believes the carbon tax will actually be spent on environmental issues. I personally believe these monies will go into the general ledger and be wasted.

Secondly Who here knows of a single research study of any kind that a government has funded trying to prove that CO2 is not the cause. There is any number of government studies proving that CO2 is the cause and I suspect this is all to support the carbon tax initiative. Which I fear will be with us forever but not at this low introductory rate.

Thirdly does anybody know what the Martians are doing about their climate change because according to NASA their polar ice caps are shrinking so they must have high CO2 levels to. I'm inclined to believe that NASA has some integrity and calls things the way they see it. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/resea ... rming.html "A Gloomy Mars Warms Up"

I fear if we live long enough we will find out that we been lied to to get more taxes to buy more screen doors for submarines and it will be called "Carbon.Gate"

While I don't believe carbon is the be-all and end-all to climate change I'm in favor of carbon reduction just for clean air to breathe. However we should be asking "how much pollution do the batteries and electric cars cost the environment for the whole lifecycle of the battery and can they be recycled".

Climate change has been going on as long as the Earth has had form. Throughout recorded history and before, changing climate has at first benefited, then limited and destroyed civilizations that came to depend on a status quo and expanded to the limits of their resources, only to find that those resources were only temporary.

The human mind and being what it is, all societies are built on myths, and when things turn for the worse, and resources become scarce, magical thinking becomes ascendant. Without exception, humans blame their own behaviour or thoughts for the changes and reason that they must atone with sacrifices. When the uncontrollable forces were gods, precious possessions, goats or people were sacrificed. Today with technology as a god, the very force that caused us to give up slavery -- cheap energy from coal and petroleum -- is blamed and offered up in a futile hope to stop the ever shifting kaleidoscope of climate change.

Are the so-called fossil fuels fossil fuels? Some are, but some planets that have never had life as far as we know have methane (natural gas) atmospheres and methane is a precursor for other organic fuels.

Is burning carbon-based fuels affecting the planet? Of course, but how much nobody really knows. We know our activities heat up the cities.

Is carbon dioxide a pollutant? I guess anything in excess could be considered such, but how big is our contribution and how much of the carbon dioxide were measure comes from our activity and how much is being released naturally from bogs and muskeg as the world warm naturally, as it has been since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago no one knows (but many pretend to). Increasing carbon dioxide in the air apparently is accelerating plant growth, so it is not all bad.

Whatever we do, one decent volcanic eruption could undo all our best efforts and wasted sacrifice.

I've been reading a number of things lately, and one of them was that one of the biggest causes of 'stuff' in the atmosphere that contributes to temperature variation is...salt spray from the ocean(s). So, are we going to find a way to stop the oceans from beating against the shores?

Next thing was, there was a recent article touting the 'warmest' year in so many years...and it turns out that the variation was measured in single digit hundredths of a degree, IOW, less than 1/10 of a degree-- within the margin of error of the instruments. Really? I think that is kind of a stretch to crow about. Hard up to push their point.

Lastly, a chart I looked at showed what appeared to be a HUGE jump in temperature...but on closer examination the total variation was less than two degrees.

Longer range charts show temperatures much higher in the past, and much greater variations that could not possibly have been influenced by humans.

The question is not "Is the climate changing?", but "Does the climate change?" And the answer is "Yes. The climate changed for hundreds of millions of years before humans arrived on the scene, and it will continue to change for hundreds of millions of years after we are gone...and there is nothing we can do about it."

Yeah....maybe. I am a skeptic, but I believe there is an anthropogenic component. I did 33 years 'north of 60' and saw some wicked changes. Biggest thing we can do about it is plant trees and bee feed. Forage area is becoming a big issue for our honeys...
Glad I'm on the edge of the Boreal forest and the Aspen Parkland. So far...
Climate is so vast and time spanning; humans have a hard time processing deep time.
"If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would still plant my apple trees today." Putative quote from Martin Luther, but didn't appear in his writings. Still a good way to live. It's how I'm going forward.

During a recent cold snap when it was in the single digits, I was talking to another vendor at a farmers market, and we figured out where the global warming is. It must be occurring at the poles, where no one lives, and we must be getting the cold polar weather.

With that said, when I was a kid, I can remember tunneling in large snow drifts to build "igloos" to play in. Even though I was a kid, those drifts had to be 4 or 5 feet tall. I haven't seen drifts that big in years.

The winters have been getting milder over the past 30 some years. Around here, there is a correlation to the influx of Amish. When I was a kid, we had winters with huge snow drifts, but almost no Amish back then. Now we have tons of Amish with their eco-friendly green vehicles (horses and buggies) and we are experiencing milder winters.

By the new US presidente, 'not to worry, we will fix the problem, if their really is one'.

It does not take a great mind to understand and agree that we, the human (or inhuman) race have done something unprecedented in the past 200 years that has affected our global climate. If it is all bad, well, the next 200 years will tell. Higher temperatures have in the past produced more rainfall and more CO2= more plant growth.

We also can not turn the clock back 200 years, but we can accept the signs and react by trying to produce less emissions, less heat, everyone by his means, one person at a time. Less waste, etc.

We can also make use of the enlarged northern agricultural production area to feed the ever larger population and with more pollen and nectar producing crops (not corn, grains and grasses) we may have more room for bees = honey.

I guess the areas with increased heat and not increased rainfall will have an even larger problems, but who knows the answer for that? The people in thus areas are on the move in to our spaces already, natural fix?

I'm going with the current meme that everyone is entitled to their own opinions just not their own facts. I was born into a world that had 2.5 billion people and atmospheric carbon levels were a bit over 300ppm. Presently population is three times as large pushing 7.5 and carbon levels are touching 400ppm, and I haven't been alive that long( some days I don't even feel old). Our ability to determine whether that is just a correlation or its causal and related to temperature increases may have implications for our survival. I'm glad there are people all over the world who are much more qualified and diligent than me looking at this carefully, and I tend to believe them when they tell me that current warming has a large anthropogenic component. Whether it is possible to change is much less certain, it is inauguration day after all.